In fact, he says, Congress should refuse to pass a spending bill that funds it, even at the risk of shutting down government. That's because he sees "mounting evidence of how Obamacare creates more problems than it solves, particularly for small business owners and the people who work for them."

One of those pieces of evidence: the number of small businesses who "say they are going to be forced to either fire workers or cut their hours."

According to his FoxNews.com op-ed on July 25, that number is a jaw-dropping 75 percent.

Rubio blames the health care law's now-delayed employer mandate, which requires businesses with the equivalent of 50 or more full-time employees to offer affordable, comprehensive health coverage or potentially face penalties of $2,000 or more per full-time worker after the first 30.

That creates a disastrous disincentive, he argues:

"If you are a small business with about 47, 48 or 49 employees and you want to hire more people, Obamacare encourages you to hold back on hiring new workers or cut the hours of existing ones so that you don't reach 50 employees. That is why 75 percent of small businesses now say they are going to be forced to either fire workers or cut their hours."

Do 3 in 4 U.S. small businesses say the health care law will drive them to fire workers or cut their hours?

Rubio's office provided us with a July 16 Washington Examiner article which credited the number to "a sobering survey released by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

We read the study and reached out to the chamber. And there's a problem with that "three-quarters of small businesses" claim. A series of problems, actually.

The study was conducted among a national sample of 1,300 executives for small businesses, defined as fewer than 500 employees and with annual revenue less than $25 million. It included chamber members and non-members "weighted to be representative of the small business population."

But it turns out the question the Washington Examiner and Rubio cited wasn't asked of the entire group — something not clear in the published results.

The chamber told us executives were first asked whether the employer mandate would affect them.

Just 17 percent of the small business executives said yes. So less than 1 in 5 businesses that participated in the survey said that the employer mandate would even affect them.

Those 17 percent were then asked how they planned to respond. They could select as many answers as they felt applied to them:

b. Cut back hours to reduce the number of full-time employees (27 percent)

c. Stop providing employee health insurance

d. Replace full-time employees with part-time workers (23 percent)

e. None of the above

The chamber published responses for answers A, B and D — the responses cited by the Washington Examiner and Rubio. It has not provided responses for answers C and E.

So, the only way to reach 75 percent is to not only ignore the majority of executives who didn't answer the question, but also to fold those who said they would "reduce hiring" with those who planned to cut hours or replace workers.

And we don't know how many employers said, "None of the above." It's also not clear from published results exactly what percentage of affected businesses said they would cut hours or replace workers.

It could be as high as 50 percent, assuming there was no overlap between the executives who said they planned to replace full-timers with part-timers and those who said they would cut back hours. It could be as low as 27 percent, assuming total overlap — that the same people who said they would replace full-timers with part-timers also said they intended to cut back hours.

So, of all small businesses in the study, how many said they would cut back hours or replace full-time workers in response to the health care law?

Just 5 percent to 9 percent.

And that's in line with other evidence. Most companies have 10 employees or fewer — far from the 50-employee threshold. Meanwhile, of companies with 25 to 49 people, 87 percent already offer benefits, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation's annual employer survey.

Of those with 50 to 199 employees — the smallest businesses subject to penalties in 2015 for not offering insurance — 94 percent already offer benefits.

Rubio, arguing to defund Obamacare, said "75 percent of small businesses now say they are going to be forced to either fire workers or cut their hours." That's not remotely true. In the study of small businesses he cited, less than 10 percent said they might make that choice.

MUNICH — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Saturday there was "incontrovertible" evidence of a Russian plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. election, a blunt statement that shows how significantly the new criminal charges leveled by an...

A prominent Republican political donor demanded on Saturday that the party pass legislation to restrict access to guns, and vowed not to contribute to any candidates or electioneering groups that did not support a ban on the sale of military-style fi...

ST. PETERSBURG — A red heart-shaped balloon rose above crowd of several hundred people that had gathered at Williams Park on Saturday evening to mourn Wednesday’s school shooting in Broward County and to protest gun violence.Below the balloon, signs ...

It’s been five years since the guns and immigration debate collided at the same time on Capitol Hill. This time, the results were even more unproductive.In early 2013, weeks after a gunman killed 20 students and six educators at an elementary school ...

TAMPA — Well, that was fast.Adult film actress Stormy Daniels made her first appearance at Thee Dollhouse on Friday evening, the first of several shows planned this weekend at the Tampa strip club.She took the stage about 7 p.m. dressed in a pink, fl...

We have the first indictment in Robert Mueller’s investigation that actually has to do with Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The special counsel on Friday indicted 13 Russians in connection with a large-scale troll farm effort aimed at influenc...

NEW YORK — Under pressure over his handling of abuse allegations against a top aide, White House chief of staff John Kelly on Friday ordered sweeping changes in how the White House clears staff members to gain access to classified information, acknow...

Associated PressSALT LAKE CITY — Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is running for a Utah Senate seat, officially launching his political comeback attempt Friday by praising his adopted home state as a model for an acrimonious national governmen...

WASHINGTON — Thirteen Russians, including a businessman close to Vladimir Putin were charged Friday in an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda, aimed in part at helping Republican Donald T...

Mitt Romney on Friday announced his long-expected Senate bid in his adopted state of Utah with a low-key rollout intended to duck roiling Republican divisions and avoid signaling that he will play the role of foil to President Donald Trump.
"Utah...